Last year, companies around the U.S. scrambled to figure out how to shut down their offices and set up their employees for remote work as the COVID-19 virus suddenly bore down on the world. 

Now, in a mirror image, they are scrambling to figure out how to bring many of those employees back. 

Most companies are proceeding cautiously, trying to navigate declining COVID-19 infections against a potential backlash by workers who are not ready to return. 

Tensions have spilled into the public at a few companies where some staff have organized petitions or even walkouts to protest being recalled to the office. Many workers in high demand fields, such as tech or customer service, have options amid a rise in job postings promising “remote work” — an alluring prospect for people who moved during the pandemic to be closer to family or in search of more affordable cities. 

Many companies are introducing a gradual return. Companies like Amazon and automakers Ford and General Motors have promised to adopt a hybrid approach permanently for their office staff, responding to internal and public surveys showing an overwhelming preference for work-from-home options. 

But implementing a hybrid workplace can be a headache, from identifying which roles are most conducive to remote work to deciding which days of the week employees need to be in the office. There are client meetings to consider. And some business leaders argue newer employees need more face time as they begin their careers or start new at at company. 

“Thursday is the new Monday,” according to Salesforce, a San Francisco-based technology firm, which found that Thursday was the most popular day for employees to report to the office when the company reopened its Sydney offices back in August. 

Wait-and-See Approach 

Across the country, office buildings in the top 10 U.S. cities had an average occupancy rate of about 32 percent in late June, according to estimates from Kastle Systems a security company that monitors access-card wipes at some 2,600 buildings.  

In New Hampshire, the statewide office vacancy rate didn’t even rose from 7.7 percent in the first quarter of 2020 to 9.6 percent in the first quarter of 2021, according to Colliers International research. As in the first quarter of 2020, the market saw around 100,000 square feet of negative absorption in the first quarter of this year, down from 150,000 square feet of negative absorption in the fourth quarter of 2020 driven largely by the addition of 72,000 square feet of new space.  

The biggest increase came in the Portsmouth submarket’s class A sector, at 7.2 percent, with most of the availabilities located in the Pease Tradeport area, although the pending arrival of significant amounts of new office space under construction in downtown Portsmouth could change matters.  

Overall, office tenants appear to be taking a “wait-and-see” approach, Colliers research manager Kristie Russell wrote in a cover note to the report. 

2K to Stay Remote 

Up to 2,000 Dartmouth-Hitchcock employees will keep working remotely in some capacity after the coronavirus pandemic, officials said. 

Brenda Blair of Dartmouth-Hitchcock told the Valley News that positions will be affected at least part of the time in human resources, information technology, finance and clinical secretary services. The total includes about 13 percent of the health system’s employees overall and almost 20 percent of workers at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon. 

“It is increasing our ability to recruit and retain our staff,” Blair said. “We are employing workers outside of Vermont and New Hampshire.” 

She characterized the current shift as one from “remote by necessity,” which the health system adopted in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic, to “remote by design,” in which Dartmouth-Hitchcock has taken the time to think through how best to approach remote work. 

Blair said some employees will work from home full time, while others will rotate in-person days with other co-workers. 

Out-of-State Buyers Could Face Decision 

It’s possible more clarity will be available starting in September. Some of large investment banks, which are top employers and office space tenants in New York City, are leading the push to bring employees back, taking a hardline approach in comparison with tech giants that have rolled out generous remote work policies. 

Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman said at a conference earlier this month that he would “be very disappointed if people haven’t found their way into the office” by Labor Day. 

“If you can go a restaurant in New York City, you can come into the office,” Gorman said, though he acknowledged that there should be flexibility for parents still struggling with childcare logistics that fell apart during the pandemic. 

Gorman also made clear that he was not open to the “work from anywhere” mentality that some companies have adopted and which has helped fuel a property boom in and around the Lake Winnipesaukee and White Mountains areas. Employees who want to earn New York City salaries should work in the city, Gorman said. The CEOs of JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs have made similar comments, sparking furious debate about whether they would push employees out the door. 

Registry Review staff writer James Sanna contributed to this report.